It doesn’t make her treatment for the “crime” any less barbaric, but she wasn’t originally sentenced to prison.
Jody Willoughby, the Etowah county district attorney, did not comment on his office’s policy of prosecuting “chemical endangerment” cases or Caswell’s lawsuit. But he said in an email that Caswell’s 15-year sentence included an initial “community corrections” placement, meaning an alternative program outside of jail, but that she was sent to state prison after her probation was revoked. Records show officials moved to have her complete her sentence in prison after a positive drug test.